''Flacourtia jangomas'', the Indian coffee plum, or scramberry, is a lowland and mountain

rain forest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...

tree in the family

Salicaceae The Salicaceae is the willow family of flowering plants. The traditional family (Salicaceae ''sensu stricto'') included the willows, poplar, aspen, and cottonwoods. Genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) have greatly ...

. It is widely cultivated in

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

and

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

, and has escaped cultivation in a number of places.Flacourtia jangomas (Lour.) Raeuschel
''Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER)'' Its wild origin is unknown but is speculated to be tropical Asia, most perhaps India. This tree is very common in the Southern India and is of culinary and medical importance, especially in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

where it is commonly known as lubikka or lololikka. Fruits are eaten both raw and cooked as a jam or pickes, and the bark is sometimes used medicinally. It is sometimes harvested for its

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

. The plant is considered one of the primary host plants of the Queensland fruit fly (''

Bactrocera tryoni The Queensland fruit fly (''Bactrocera tryoni'') is a species of fly in the family Tephritidae in the insect order Diptera. ''B. tryoni'' is native to subtropical coastal Queensland and northern New South Wales. They are active during the day, b ...

'')

Description

''Flacourtia jangomas'' is a small, deciduous shrub or

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

that grows to a height of 6-10m. Trunk and branches are commonly thornless in old trees, but densely beset with simple or branched, blunt woody thorns when younger. Bark is light-brown to copper-red with a flaky texture and the leaves are light green and narrow ovate in shape. It produces small white to whitish green fragrant flowers. The relatively juicy fruits are rounded pink to dark red and about an inch wide.

Common names

* Bengali: , লুকলুকি * Assamese: (পনিয়ল) * English: ''Indian coffee plum'', ''Indian sour cherry'', ''rukam'', ''runeala plum'', ''scramberry'' * Hindi: (तालिसपत्री), ''Pani amla'' (पानी आमला) * Manipuri: ( হৈত্ৰোঈ ) * Konkanni: ''Jagomma'' * Thai: * Rohingya, Chittagonian: * Sanskrit: , (स्रुववृक्ष) * Sylheti: (ꠟꠥꠇꠟꠥꠇꠤ), ''kulkuli'' (ꠇꠥꠟꠇꠥꠟꠤ) * Malayalam: (ലൂബിക്ക), (ലൗലോലിക്ക), * Tamil: * Mizo: * Malay: * Castellano Panama: ''Uva de Monte'', ''Uvita'', ''Guinda''.

Uses

Food

''Flacourtia jangomas'' fruits are widely eaten around South Asia, both raw and cooked. They are noted for their mild sour and tangy taste. The fruits are pickled, salt-dried or cooked in Indian curries. They can also be blended into juices or made into jams and marmalades which are immensely popular in Southern India. Commercially produced Coffee plum jams and pickles are exported across the world by various companies, mainly from Kerala.

Medicine

In South Asian folkloric medicine, the fruits and leaves of Indian coffee plum are used against diarrhea. Dried leaves are reportedly effective for bronchitis and roots are said to suppress toothache. The bark of ''Flacourtia jangomas'' has various antifungal and antibacterial constituents which makes it an important ingredient for a few Ayurvedic drugs. Ground bark paste is also used for curing many common ailments in the tribal settlements of Western Ghat.

Lumber

The wood is sometimes harvested for lumber in the Indian states of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

and

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. It is often used as a cheaper alternative to

Teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters ( pan ...

and other expensive wood.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1900509 jangomas